Something New
Banner made by Robin Marie
Date: 25 Mar 2025
Mikey and Nyx crept into the greenhouse, closing the door quietly behind them, though the sound seemed much louder in the hush of the room. The air felt thick in here, warmer, humid in that way that clung to your sleeves and settled in behind your ears. It smelled rich, like damp dirt and fresh leaves, mixed with a sort of slow, strange magic that like it had been there for centuries and had no interest in leaving. The glass panes that covered the roof were streaked with moss and age, but the sunlight filtered through enough to make crooked gold stripes against the floor in the main room. There were rows and rows of plants and in front of them some were quiet and still while others rustled faintly as if reacting to their presence in the room. Some were glowing with a soft light. It felt like a space that had some unspoken rule, like you were supposed to ask permission before you just touched something.
Alright," Mikey exhaled, eyes wide and voice lowered. "This is... way cooler than I thought it would be." He took another step, then stopped near a thin plant that was turning toward the light. He tilted his head to the side, following its lead. "You ever get the feeling that these plants know stuff?" He turned and poked a fern at the base, and it twitched back. Hard. Mikey blinked. "Alright. Well, that's rude." Half amused and half wary, he looked over his shoulder at Nyx with that same trademark smile. "Not terrifying at all, right?"
He stayed there a second longer, simply watching as the light bent over the leaves. Then, like he was still matching his thoughts with the words, "Hey. Thanks for coming with me." He didn't want to let it linger too long, so he glanced around the garden and added, "So. What's the vibe in here? You think if we're nice to them, they'll give us the gossip on the greenhouse?" He gave serious nod towards a suspiciously shady shrub. "That one definitely has a few secrets."
Then he pointed toward a small bench tucked under a flowering vine, just hidden enough to feel private. “Want to sit for a bit?” He took a few steps toward it and added with a grin, “And, uh… fair warning, if these plants can actually read minds, they’re about to find out I failed the last quiz.”
Reducio
@Nyx Blackheart
Something New
Interacting with @Mikey Forville
Banner made by @Phoenix Harlow
I laughed and agreed, saying, "That one definitely has seen a few things."
The 2 of us laughed together.
When he confessed at failing that last quiz,
I laughed again, sitting down next to him.
"You failed that last quiz?" I said, still chortling. He looked just slightly guilty and I laughed harder because of it. He looked affronted, but I could tell that there was amusement in his eyes. I looked around at all the plants, their shiny leaves. I smiled. The memories came back to me as I was in this place.
I stood up and walked in a circle, my eyes never fully leaving Mikey's.
"Back home, I used to spend all my time outside with the plants in my grandmother's greenhouse when I wasn't reading or writing. I loved it back home when she would walk in and she would just know if I had a bad day or a good one." I told him all about the strange and exotic plants back home, how I used to care for them. He listened raptly, his eyes never coming off of mine.
He looked wistful.
"Do you ever wish that you had plants like this?"
I asked him, curious to learn more about him. He thought for a moment, and I looked at the way his hair flopped on his head.
He looked ready to answer and I was ready to listen. He opened his mouth to speak and I thought about everything my friend had already told me. I had a feeling that he would say yes. But, I wasn't completely sure. After all, people can manage to surprise you, I had done it several times myself.
Last edited by Nyx Blackheart on 10 Jun 2025, 01:37, edited 1 time in total.
Dance poor people, dance and drown, dance fair Paris to the Ground. Dance poor people, dance and drown, dance fair Paris, ashes now.
❀ Crimson Sugar Curiosities! ❀ [OPEN!]
Something New
Banner made by Robin Marie
Mikey was caught between the beauty of the surrounding green house and Nyx's story. As he considered his response, he glanced down and began to fiddle with a loose thread on his school robe. Leaning back a little, he allowed his eyes to wander over the strange flowers and soft glowing bulbs that pulsed dimly in the filtered light of the greenhouse. "Yeah," he said, running his fingers through his hair, making it a complete mess.
"I mean, there aren't many plants in the city." He paused. "Not outside of the parks, anyway. and Liverpool definitely lacking any sort of magical plants. The thought of bouncing bulbs in Chavasse Park made him laugh. "I had never given it much thought before. I'm talking about plants. They always seemed to me to be... kind of there. These ones, though, seem to notice. As if they are listening to you in return. In a way, it's both cool and eerie."
Mikey let the words hang in the air for a moment then he turned back to Nyx, catching the way the sunlight moved across her face. A playful glint sparked in his eyes and he nudged her shoulder lightly. And then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “...I like this, you know. Hanging out like this.” Mikey was feeling more and more comfortable around Nyx and was happy they were becoming friends.
Reducio
@Nyx Blackheart
Something New
about to find: @Mikey Forville and @Nyx Blackheart;
mentioning: @Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
Ruckus was taking a brisk walk through the grounds to clear his head. Making the jump from caretaker to professor had been somewhat rough on the old man—but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. God knows he had experienced his fair share of stress, maybe enough for one lifetime.
The upside of his new position was his proximity to the castle's beautiful grounds. He was now spending even more time enjoying the view and staying out of the dimly lit corridors of the castle. He especially enjoyed passing by the greenhouses. Filled to the brim with magnificent plants, many of which he recognized from his own dabbles in potions. Ruckus found himself literally stopping and smelling the flowers on occasion.
The first greenhouse he stopped at was sporting two irregular-shaped plants obscured by the green glass, shadowed by the hulking masses of vines and leaves. Ruckus had never seen these before; they seemed to move and gesture like two small humans conversing. Huh. He would have to ask Professor Toussaint-Fleischer about the new additions.
Ruckus started back toward his flying office, whistling a pleasant tune. His head was slowly filling back up with lesson plans and new creative ideas for teaching flying. On Monday, he had a few lessons with the first-years, and they were set to learn about—
Wait.
First-years.
Something prickled in the back of his head. Like he was missing something obvious. But what was it?
Oh! Oh. Yup, that was it. He turned on his heel and headed back for the door of the greenhouse. There were two new plants he needed to have some words with.
“This is the dialectic—there is a very short distance between high art and trash, and trash that contains an element of craziness is by this very quality nearer to art.” - Douglas Sirk
also Della Barfield | Quentin Gagné
Something New
date. 25th march 2025 ── location. greenhouse ── word count. #
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬It didn't take much for both fellow faculty members and students alike to notice the small changes in the woman's temperament since her date of hire a year ago.
Once renowned for her timeliness and being rather the authoritarian, yet as of late the Toussaint woman had fallen distracted, exhausted, lax, and morose. It had been nearly 14 long years since she suffered through her first pregnancy of twin boys, Alphonse and Briar, and in that time, the Haitian witch had nearly forgotten the undesirable symptoms that came with her current pregnancy, which also ended up being another set of twins.
Symptoms that did not bode well for her career at Hogwarts, but a salary was a salary all the same.
It wasn't as though the numinous woman was alone in her endeavors of teaching hordes of young pupils and maintaining seven greenhouses; Sarai had her serpentine familiar, Badriyah-Abuk, to slither in the grass, to trail up the rafters of each greenhouse, to report to the witch that they were undisturbed while the woman napped the day's work away. In theory, it was a good plan, but it wasn't always foolproof.
Currently, the woman would be fast asleep, silent and face concealed beneath folded arms, on her mahogany desk near a stack of ungraded assignments where a small trail of drool crept from her slightly parted lips. How long the Toussaint woman found herself in such a position was unbeknownst to her, but she'd be startled awake by the Brown and White Puerto Rican Boa slithering up her body, coiling itself to gently rouse the pregnant woman awake. She'd sit upright in a flash, wiping away the drool, only to groan to herself when a small ache pinched her back.
Badriyah-Abuk would whisper her greetings and status report of the greenhouses, alerting Sarai that she suspected one of the greenhouses had been infiltrated due to the sound of one of the heavy doors make a sound of opening and closing.
"Thank you, sister," Sarai muttered in Parseltongue, a gentle hand securing the heavy serpent to her chest as she quickly rose to her feet. The boa dangled across her chest and back as her long strides ate up the distance from her office towards the greenhouses. Her gunmetal blue gaze would first see the familiar figure of Ruckus Weems, the Caretaker turned Professor; surely her familiar wouldn't disturb her slumber for fellow faculty.
"Ruckus, good to see you," Sarai greeted with an exhausted smile, "Everything okay?"
Her blue eyes followed his, towards the greenhouse door that was slightly ajar.
"Oh, lovely," she muttered under her breath in an air of frustration, trailing behind Ruckus.
Once renowned for her timeliness and being rather the authoritarian, yet as of late the Toussaint woman had fallen distracted, exhausted, lax, and morose. It had been nearly 14 long years since she suffered through her first pregnancy of twin boys, Alphonse and Briar, and in that time, the Haitian witch had nearly forgotten the undesirable symptoms that came with her current pregnancy, which also ended up being another set of twins.
Symptoms that did not bode well for her career at Hogwarts, but a salary was a salary all the same.
It wasn't as though the numinous woman was alone in her endeavors of teaching hordes of young pupils and maintaining seven greenhouses; Sarai had her serpentine familiar, Badriyah-Abuk, to slither in the grass, to trail up the rafters of each greenhouse, to report to the witch that they were undisturbed while the woman napped the day's work away. In theory, it was a good plan, but it wasn't always foolproof.
Currently, the woman would be fast asleep, silent and face concealed beneath folded arms, on her mahogany desk near a stack of ungraded assignments where a small trail of drool crept from her slightly parted lips. How long the Toussaint woman found herself in such a position was unbeknownst to her, but she'd be startled awake by the Brown and White Puerto Rican Boa slithering up her body, coiling itself to gently rouse the pregnant woman awake. She'd sit upright in a flash, wiping away the drool, only to groan to herself when a small ache pinched her back.
Badriyah-Abuk would whisper her greetings and status report of the greenhouses, alerting Sarai that she suspected one of the greenhouses had been infiltrated due to the sound of one of the heavy doors make a sound of opening and closing.
"Thank you, sister," Sarai muttered in Parseltongue, a gentle hand securing the heavy serpent to her chest as she quickly rose to her feet. The boa dangled across her chest and back as her long strides ate up the distance from her office towards the greenhouses. Her gunmetal blue gaze would first see the familiar figure of Ruckus Weems, the Caretaker turned Professor; surely her familiar wouldn't disturb her slumber for fellow faculty.
"Ruckus, good to see you," Sarai greeted with an exhausted smile, "Everything okay?"
Her blue eyes followed his, towards the greenhouse door that was slightly ajar.
"Oh, lovely," she muttered under her breath in an air of frustration, trailing behind Ruckus.
——mentions. @Mikey Forville, @Nyx Blackheart, @Ruckus Weems
——notes.
——notes.
I always knew the wind would blow you back to me one day.
Something New
@Mikey Forville, @Nyx Blackheart, @Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
Right before Ruckus reached the greenhouse door, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned to see the aforementioned Professor Touissant-Fleischer. Sarai looked a bit tired, but she smiled warmly toward him. She quickly spotted the two first-years and motioned to join him in catching the culprits.
"Good to see ye, too, Sarai. Care to join?"
His past year as caretaker had been lonesome when it came to fraternizing with other staff members. Ruckus didn't mind; he never went out of his way to join gatherings or stop by classrooms. Keeping the castle and the students in line lent itself naturally to being more recluse. However, now that he was a professor, he realized it would do him well to form stronger connections with his fellow teachers. They all shared a joint endeavor to teach the next generation, after all.
Ruckus tried to remember what he knew about the Herbology professor. She had a few family members on staff, she was a Parselmouth, and her husband was an American headmaster. Fleisher? Ilvermorny was it? He regretted not paying more attention. And he strongly suspected she was pregnant, though he knew it would be extremely unwise to verify.
He held the door open to the greenhouse for her, allowing her to pass in front of him if she wished. Having five younger siblings, he did recognize that there was a certain level of inhuman exhaustion that came with pregnancy.
A quick thought splashed across his mind: If things had gone differently, would he have been a father by now? He forced the thought back down and focused back to the task at hand.
He shouted into the open greenhouse, at the students now trapped inside, "Alright ya two, explain yerselves!"
“This is the dialectic—there is a very short distance between high art and trash, and trash that contains an element of craziness is by this very quality nearer to art.” - Douglas Sirk
also Della Barfield | Quentin Gagné
Something New
Interacting with @Mikey Forville
Interacting with @Ruckus Weems
Interacting with @Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
Interacting with @Ruckus Weems
Interacting with @Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
Banner made by @Phoenix Harlow
I jumped in surprise. Mikey looked surprised too. We both knew that booming voice.
Ruckus Weems.
It could have only been him.
There was nobody else in Hogwarts that had the same voice, that same accent.
I wasn't panicking though. Instead, I looked at the flowers, thoughtful.
I just smiled serenely.
Maybe we were in trouble.
No, we were definitely in trouble.
But somehow, I didn't care.
Maybe this was what it meant to be to be a Gryffindor?
To not care about getting in trouble, or to be brave enough to cause trouble?
I thought about it.
We could be in big trouble, but then again, we didn't break into one of the major greenhouses so it was a more minor offense so as to speak.
I found myself looking at Mikey.
"Should we come out with our hands behind our heads?"
I asked, jokingly.
Trying to elevate the levity in the room, which was currently at zero.
Well, Mikey and I had gotten into trouble before, so we were already seasoned troublemakers.
And maybe this way, it could get my mother to send me an owl, or even a howler.
I scowled inwardly.
She didn't care if I got in trouble.
But, this was another chance to owl Uncle Zeus and tell him of my latest exploits with the as he said,
"young Ravenclaw dude"
I looked at Mikey.
Dance poor people, dance and drown, dance fair Paris to the Ground. Dance poor people, dance and drown, dance fair Paris, ashes now.
❀ Crimson Sugar Curiosities! ❀ [OPEN!]
Something New
Banner made by Robin Marie
Mikey jumped up so quickly he knocked his knee into the small bench that they had been sitting on. His heart thudded in his chest and the echo of Weems voice still vibrating in the glass around them. He shot a quick look at Nyx and saw she was smiling. Smiling and cracking jokes. He gave a short stunned laugh. “Right, yeah totally calm,” he whispered, mostly to himself. He glanced back toward the door, where the towering shape of Professor Weems had just appeared, and behind him was… oh no. Professor Toussaint-Fleischer. Both of them. Great.
Mikey instinctively raised his hands, as if unsure whether they were about to be scolded or set on fire. He stepped forward with one hand in the air like he was asking to be called on and the other gesturing vaguely around the greenhouse like obviously this all made perfect sense. “Okay, so this is going to sound ridiculous,” he began, already wincing at his own tone, “but Nyx was feeling kind of… homesick. She didn’t say it, but I could tell and I thought you know, the greenhouse and plants, and calming vibes. Seemed like a better idea than sulking around in the common room.”
He looked over at Nyx, then quickly back at the professors. “I just figured we weren’t hurting anything. We didn’t touch anything, except maybe one fern, and it was kind of rude first, but like we didn’t damage anything.” He tried a hopeful smile then continued blurting out words. “I just thought maybe the plants would help. You know, they’re good company and all.” Mikey paused for a second then continued. “Better than people, sometimes I think.”
There was an awkward moment of silence. Mikey cleared his throat and added quickly, “And, um, totally understand if that’s not… regulation. I mean, obviously it’s not, I guess, but it felt like a good idea. At the time. Sort of.” He looked at Nyx again, half waiting for her to back him up and half hoping she’d rescue him from the hole he was still digging. “And… I mean, it’s not like we broke into Greenhouse Seven, right?” he finished, a little too brightly. “The first year one looked more friendly.”
Reducio
@Nyx Blackheart
@Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
@Ruckus Weems
@Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
@Ruckus Weems
Something New
Interacting with @Mikey Forville
Interacting with @Ruckus Weems
Interacting with @Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
Interacting with @Ruckus Weems
Interacting with @Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
Banner made by @Phoenix Harlow
I looked ay Mikey.
Huh. Didn't know the guy had it in him.
I thought.
His lie was very well constructed, and left nearly no room for loops, or holes that could be exploited for an adult to catch you in the act.
The only problem with it was that it was delivered in an unsure voice instead of a confident and sure voice.
An unsure voice clearly states that something is wrong.
A confident voice can make anyone believe anything.
If you said that the sky was purple in a confident, loud, and brash voice, people would believe you for the time being.
It was good for a first time, but he was an amateur.
Time to take this up a notch.
I was going to blow his mind with the powers of deceit and the art of the lie.
I sniffled a bit, letting my eyes grow the slightest bit watery, making them look as big and round as doe eyes.
I made sure that they gave the impression of a hurt fawn.
I sniffled a bit more, letting my eyes water even more.
I spoke, letting my voice be soft, but brash, quiet, but loud. Unsure, but confident.
"Mikey was right Professors. I was feeling homesick, and I have a greenhouse at home that I spent most of my time in.
We didn't mean to break the rules."
I let myself grow a bit remorseful, looking up with big, watery, black eyes at Ruckus.
I knew that I would get him to break, even just a little bit.
My voice cracked slightly for what I said next.
"I'm sorry Professors. We're sorry."
Perfect. The thing to break the camel's back.
Dance poor people, dance and drown, dance fair Paris to the Ground. Dance poor people, dance and drown, dance fair Paris, ashes now.
❀ Crimson Sugar Curiosities! ❀ [OPEN!]
Something New
interacting: @Nyx Blackheart, @Mikey Forville, @Sarai Toussaint-Fleischer
The first voice that answered Ruckus was one he recognized: Miss Blackheart, someone who had received a detention from him in the spring. She ran her laps while singing, which did soften the old flying professor a bit toward her demeanor. And now, he should probably have taken offense at what she said in the greenhouse: should we come up with our hands up? But instead, he nearly chuckled at the gall and wit.
Her companion, however, spun a yarn about Miss Blackheart being homesick for the plants, and the Gryffindor hastily agreed. Ruckus eyed the young man. Ravenclaws were supposedly known for their intelligence, but that included the quick thought needed to lie.
"Well, Professor Toussaint-Fleischer, I see we have two students that love yer plants dearly. So much so, they couldn't wait until the proper supervised time to enter the greenhouse. I don't know about ye, but I wouldn't feel right letting them go off scot-free. Yet, I think I have something in mind where they can spend more time with these here plants, so that Miss Blackheart's homesickness is good and cured."
Ruckus hoped the herbology professor didn't mind him taking the lead on this—even with the implication that he was going to use a greenhouse to host a detention. He figured that with her current "predicament," she wouldn't mind a little less on her plate.
OOC: Yay! You've earned detention! I will owl you the thread details within a day or so—once it's posted you will no longer be able to create or join new threads until the detention is complete.
Sorry for the late post! The summer got the better of Sarai and me.
“This is the dialectic—there is a very short distance between high art and trash, and trash that contains an element of craziness is by this very quality nearer to art.” - Douglas Sirk
also Della Barfield | Quentin Gagné